Then
Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against
me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I
do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. For this
reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle
accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him
ten thousand talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means
to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children
and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground
and prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will
repay you everything.' And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released
him and forgave him the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his
fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began
to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' So his fellow slave fell to
the ground and began to plead with him, saying, 'Have patience with me and
I will repay you.' But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until
he should pay back what was owed. So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened,
they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had
happened. Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave
you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had
mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?' And
his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should
repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you,
if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."

-
Matthew 18: 21-35

This
is a simple, easy to understand parable that the Lord told so we could understand
the depth of how important forgiveness is in the Kingdom of God.

When
we forgive, we grant each person their humanity. We say to our neighbors,
friends, strangers, families and loved ones...that it is OK to make mistakes.
This is the kind of God that we have.

Yet
many of us continue to hold grudges and damn those who have crossed us and
cannot grant the same grace to others that we enjoy. We somehow think that
we are different and have our own excuses to justify ourselves. It is our
downfall. Our unforgiveness holds up the division among ourselves that God
did not intend for mankind and which grieves the Holy Spirit.

God
takes pleasure when we love, forgive, and reconcile with each other. Jesus
stood by the helpless adulteress who the Pharisees accused of crime, and who
were unwilling to forgive her. He forgave the thief on the cross who was in
the midst of being executed. He healed and forgave everyone who came to Him.
Yet today, time and again some of the most religious followers in our society
try to persecute those who they think are sinners, thinking this is the way
of the Lord. But Jesus never did that. His only rebuke was to those same religious
people who tried to expose the sins of others, yet hiding their own sins from
view. They accept mercy, but won't give it to anyone else.

And
we all do this to each other. As Christians, if we are to truly follow the
words of Jesus, we must grant each person who lives and has ever lived, grace
and forgiveness despite the blunders, crimes, sins, hypocrisy and harm they've
done to others and us.

How
many of us remember the faults of people and brand them for their sins and
mistakes? When we recall people, we hold up their lives for scrutiny. When
we meet new people we search for their flaws and are the first to volunteer
that negative information to others, to the delight of our friends, family
and co-workers.

But why should we? Why
should we forgive the sins of those who have seriously hurt us by their selfishness?
Because Christian or not, we are no different than anyone else. We all have
our own blunders, crimes, sins, and hypocrisy that we have committed, but
have conveniently made excuses for and forgotten, thinking we're not that
bad. It is really our pride that won’t let us look back at our bad selves.
Yet to those to whom we have sinned against, they see us very clearly.

But
it is only through grace and forgiveness that we can begin to heal from the
damages of sin and unforgiveness that consumes the world. It is the only way
we can learn from our mistakes, understand our humanity and heal from the
pain we have used to separate ourselves from each other. So many wars, battles
and fights continue on for years and decades because of our resistance
to forgiveness. This resistance prevents any future change for the
better.This
resistance prevents any future healing.

Unforgiveness
breeds anger, resentment, revenge...and imprisonment. We are imprisoned by
our own bitterness.

We
need to actively reflect on our past and present encounters and relationships
and really forgive from our hearts, those who have taken advantage of us,
hurt us, abused us, snubbed us, wronged us, laughed at us, and cursed us,
because this is how we will become free from the grip of the sin that keeps
us hostage.

And
we also need to do likewise and heal the pain we have caused
to others by confessing those wrongs to them and seeking their forgiveness.
We really don't realize how much our actions and words have scarred some people
in our past and present.

We
are not to collect or recall any sins done against us because that is the
grace, goodness and mercy which Jesus has granted to us. He has freed us and
forgiven our sins, so we also must forgive the sins of others. This is the
only way that our hardened hearts can open up again to love, peace, healing
and freedom. When we grant the grace of God to others, we are doing as the
Lord has done to us.

When
we accepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour, He forgave and forgot all of our
sins, past, present and future. He forgave those sins we willingly do, and
those sins we don't think we're doing. He has forgotten the sins of our youth
and those from 5 minutes ago.

Psalms
103:11,12 says:

"For
as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His loving kindness toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us."

God
has thrown our sins that far away. So we must also throw away the sins of
others from our sight. When we do, we begin to see each other with love and
kindness instead of contempt. Only then can humanity heal from the ravages
of unforgiveness.

Jesus
tells Peter that forgiveness is a continuous activity and there are times
that we will have to forgive some people "seventy times seven".
Yet most of us can't even forgive someone who has wronged us just once.

There
are just two phrases we have to practice: “I’m sorry”,
and “I forgive you.”

Every
day we need to look at the people around us with a fresh start. The past is
forgotten. Each day is brand new. Because within this forgiveness, this permission
that we grant to others to be imperfect, to make mistakes...to be human...is
our own salvation.